I read some stat once that the average blog gets started and then forgotten about after about six months. The first year of this blog I tried to keep that from happening. Sure, there were lapses, but I kept it up. I thought I was going blog strong at the start of the second year but then something happened to me in March.

Actually, nothing really happened to me. I just started spending a lot of time reading and commenting at Hot Air. Then summer came and S and I were always busy, or so it seemed. We have had all sorts of family visitors and S has been going off on work related trips and we’ve been driving to Pittsburgh and Wheeling a lot. We just got busy.

The switch to the new computer didn’t help either. I lost my photo re-sizer. So much of the fun of the blog had been in the posting of photos and it became difficult. I also started using Facebook, initially to read Sarah Palin’s notes but then I reconnected with all sorts of friend from high school and college and beyond. Facebook makes it so easy to upload photos and with that came the ease of status updates. So I was telling people on Facebook and Twitter and Hot Air and Ace of Spades my thoughts, instead of writing them here.

Recently though, S and I started a new hobby and last night I thought that I might like to write about it. I thought about starting a blog just for that, but then I figured this blog has always been a hodge podge, so why not come back to it? I cannot believe I haven’t posted anything since March.

We went to the ‘Burgh last weekend to meet Lil Bud. She is pretty damned cute. We took tons of pictures. I don’t mind saying, thank G_d she looks more like her mother than her father.

Again, driving into Pittsburgh was complete Hell. I-79 South is being closed for 10 minutes at a time off and on during the day which causes major traffic congestion. When we finally got to S’s parent’s house, I vowed that we were never again driving to Pittsburgh, but I am sure that vow will be broken.

Trying to leave Pittsburgh is also Hell, no matter what the time of day.

Why doesn’t John McCain have rallies at times when it would be easy for me to attend?

S and I filled out our mail-in ballots last week. I am going to take them to the Board of Elections office instead of putting them in the mail. I do not trust the mail.

We both voted NO on all of the ballot issues. There were five. Two biggies… one to shut down the Pay-Day lending institutions and one to allow a casino down in Columbus. I’m against gambling but not against allowing people to get short term loans at outrageous interest rates.

I just remembered that I was supposed to call our vet today. Totally forgot. Emma has a huge lump growing on her chest (the size of a turkey breast). It is probably a fatty tumor, which is common in Labs. She had one two years ago on her side and had to have surgery. She seems healthy and it doesn’t seem to be impeding her movement at all, so I haven’t been too worried about it. But S started freaking out about it this weekend.

The last time I posted it was September 16th. I tried to make a couple of other posts since then but I have been having some computer issues. And now it is October.

We haven’t done any work on the house as of late. We need two clear weekends to get started on the kitchen/laundry room floors project. Those clear weekends are hard to come by.

Squirrels have been coming in through our chimeny, following it all the way down into the basement and then climbing back up into the walls. When they scratch around in there Rummy goes nuts. Kind of funny to watch but I am afraid she is going to start trying to tear into the walls to get to them. S’s dad is going to come up one day this month and put some sort of cap on the top of the chimeny in hopes of stopping the rodent bastards.

I’ve been spending most of my days consumed by the stock market and electoral politics. Oh, yeah, and football. My fantasy football teams have gone all to hell due to injuries. But the Steelers are 3-1 and I am happy.

Overall, though, just sort of glum around here. The weather is getting colder and I am dreading having to keep the windows closed and turning on the heat. I like the fresh air.

But now I have some new concerns to bring to your attention. I’ve noticed lately that in front of some post offices here in the Cleveland area there are signs that read “Postal Workers For Obama“. Which I suppose is fine, you can support whichever candidate suits your union. But I don’t know that is such a good idea for a vital public service that is partially funded through tax money to be advocating in such a manner. It just makes me nervous.

You see, I subscribe to National Review magazine, which comes bi-weekly. I used to get it promptly, ever other Monday. But lately, my magazine comes late. Sometimes a week late. And I know, having contacted National Review, that the problem is not on their end.

Since Senator Obama clinched the Democrat primary back in June, National Review has featured him on the cover of the magazine with titles such as “Who Is Barack Obama” and “The Truth About Community Organizing” among others. Not flattering to your chosen candidate. So, what with your campaigning for the man, I am left to wonder if my magazine distribution is being jammed because you don’t want to distribute negative information about your candidate.

Hey, don’t get mad… I’m just asking a question. And I’m only asking because you are openly favoring one candidate over another. See the problem?

Oh, and another thing. Pay close attention because this is a much bigger deal. On Saturday when you brought my mail, you brought me an envelope that wasn’t sealed by the sender. It just contained a flier for a community pottery class, so the envelope was tucked in, not sealed. The thing is, when I took out the flier a smaller, sealed envelope also came out. It was someone else’s mail. It was a piece of mail that you must have picked up from their mail box to take back to the post office to process.

Accidents happen, of course, but the thing is, by looking at the address on the front of the envelope, I could see that it was addressed to a mortgage company. It was someone’s mortgage payment. And you brought it to my house, not the post office. Yeah, big screw up. Don’t worry, when I realized what you had done, I drove it up to the post office and put it in the mail slot myself. I don’t mind helping out, especially when it comes to somebody’s mortgage payment, but you should be more careful in the future.

So, now I am afraid of you. Not just you, but the whole post office system. You’re participating in candidate advocacy in a country that is pretty well divided on the candidates…. You’re delivering my political magazines late… You’re playing a little fast and loose with mortgage payments…

That was one wicked wind storm last night. It sounded like Marine One was landing on our front yard, repeatedly, for several hours. The power kept flickering. Branches fell out of trees and blocked the roads. I found a rather large tree branch on the hood of our car this morning. No damage, thank G_d, but a whole lot of people in northeast Ohio woke up to damaged cars and houses this morning. My poor tomato plants did not survive the wind storm. They were ripped into bits.

Just sitting in my living room, hoping and praying that the power wouldn’t go out during the Steelers/Browns game, I wondered how in the hell anyone in Texas, especially Galveston, rode out Ike in their homes. Frightening. I often wonder why anyone would choose to live in a hurricane plagued are or a tornado prone area or along a fault line. I don’t think I am as tough as those people. Perhaps I don’t have the fortitude to deal with those things. Then again, I deal with Lake Erie winters, so I am somewhat tough. Right?

At this very moment I am listening to a local talk radio program where the host is taking calls from people perplexed by the sudden increase in gas prices. Of course they are blaming the oil companies, not the huge range of factors caused by the hurricane. I find that frustrating.

S’s mom and dad are planning to visit this coming weekend. We are going to take them to the Yankee Peddler festival on Saturday. Mrs. S has been nagging us to take her for about four years now. I don’t think that Mr. S is looking forward to it at all. When we took them to a county fair last summer, they practically jogged us through the whole thing, all the while complaining about the smell of the animals. Seriously, we were in and out of the Cuyahoga County Fair in a little over an hour. Now, there won’t be animals at the Yankee Peddler, but it is still pretty much just a huge craft fair. When we have gone in the past, we usually stay about four hours. I am willing to bet that this year we do the whole festival in two hours.

Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live as Sarah Palin was priceless. However, the rest of the show was horrible. Maybe they used all the funny on the opening skit and that is why all the rest of the skits lacked the funny. But I am pleased t report that S and I watched Baby Mama (Tina Fey and Amy Pohler)on Friday and it was funny. I feared that it was going to be one of those movies where all of the funny parts were in the advertisements, but no.

I checked out my stocks this morning and got a little ill. But then I made the decision not to look again today while there is the Lehman uproar. I already feel better. Things ebb and flow and I usually resist getting too caught up in the whirlwind of financial prognostication. Today should be no exception.

Finished reading Fleecedby Dick Morris this weekend. Not a very good book. Too shallow. And I got the impression that some of his “down with the tyrants” rants were hollow. I don’t think he really believes half of what he wrote in that book. Total waste of my money and time and for that I should slap myself in the face, because I have alwasy avoided his books in the past.

I have been terribly ill (tummy troubles) for the past week. Totally out of commission. Perhaps I have been eating too much meat this summer.

Well, summer is pretty much over now. S had her first teaching day of the new school year today, which is a major signal of the end of summer to me. I feel bad that her last free week was spent cleaning up my puke.